Australornis

Australornis Temporal range: Danian, Paleocene 61.5–60.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	†Vegaviiformes
Family:	†Vegaviidae (?)
Genus:	†Australornis Mayr & Scofield, 2014
Type species
Australornis lovei Mayr & Scofield, 2014

Australornis (Latin: "southern bird") is a genus of extinct seabird discovered in New Zealand.^[1] It lived in the Paleocene epoch, 60.5 to 61.6 million years ago (Ma).^[1] The type species name originates from australis, Latin for "southern", and ornis, the Greek word for "bird", and lovei commemorates Leigh Love, an amateur paleontologist who discovered it.^[1][2]

Australornis is one of the oldest flying seabirds.^[3] It is also the first non-sphenisciform (penguins and allies) bird fossil discovered from New Zealand for that age.^[2] The fossil originates from an era just after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.^[1] The features of the bird indicate that it does not belong to any of the extant bird families, but to a precursor group or clade which is extinct; hence it is a find of global significance with regard to the evolution of birds.^[3] Though the fossil evidence is incomplete to substantiate phylogeny, Australornis contributes to the emerging view that the diversification of Neoaves had already begun in the earliest Paleogene.^[1]

Australornis is also of zoogeographical significance, as New Zealand was much closer to Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene and it would have originated over deep waters of a warm sea off the coast of Zealandia, now a nearly submerged continent or microcontinent that sank after breaking away from Australia between 60 and 85 million years ago and on which New Zealand rests.^[2]